The Job of my Nightmares
by Brilexse
Summary: Courtney's eyes widened. "Duncan what the heck are you doing here?" He smirked. "Now,now. Is that anyway to talk to your boss?" Now that Courtney has her dream job as a prestigious lawyer, what can stop her from enjoying it . . .? Her boss maybe!
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) Disclaimer: We (me and my best friend) do not own Courtney and Duncan or anybody else on total drama island but if we did we'd be millionaires. We are not to blame for Duncan getting mauled by Courtney throughout the story.**

"AHHH!" Courtney screamed excitedly in the house as she replayed the same message over and over again on her BlackBerry.

"_Courtney, the CEO of Anderson & Evans law firm has viewed your resume' and found you very equipped to be one of our lawyers. The CEO is very sorry he could not congratulate you on your new job and sends his apologies. Be here at eight o'clock on the thirtieth floor for some final information. The CEO wants to have a conference with you at 8:45 sharp. Have a nice day."_

Finally after four long hard years at Yale all her training had paid off. She was finally accepted into the top law firm in Canada and she could barely contain her joy. She hung up her voice mail and immediately called Bridgette.

"Hello?"

"AHHH!" Courtney screamed into the phone.

"OW!" Bridgette shouted back. "Gosh Court, you sound like Katie and Sadie. What's up?"

"I gasp got gasp the job!" Courtney said in the phone trying not to scream again.

"What job?" Bridgette asked.

"I'm a lawyer at Anderson & Evans law firm. Can you believe it?!"

"Are you serious?!" Bridgette said sounding just as excited as Courtney. "Geoff, guess what?! Courtney got a job at Anderson & Evans law firm! Wait . . . Geoff . . . gimme back the phone!"

"Court, did you say Anderson & Evans law firm?" Geoff asked. "And you're happy about it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Courtney frowned wondering why Geoff wouldn't offer to throw a party or something. This was a major accomplishment in her life and he didn't seem happy for her.

"Don't you know who-"

"Give me back the phone Geoff!" Bridgette took the phone back. "Sorry, you know men are."

"Funny, I thought Geoff would be more excited for me. Doesn't he realize how IMPORTANT THIS JOB IS FOR ME?!" Courtney said getting louder with every word.

"He does. Chillax Court." Bridgette said in a soothing voice. "He probably just wants to make sure you made the right choice."

"Well I know I made the right choice. This is the perfect thing for me. It's what I'm made for." Courtney had dreamt of becoming a lawyer at Anderson & Evans law firm ever since she watched it crawl up the charts to being one of the top ten law firms three years ago. Once the owner turned the company over to his nephew last year, it has had great success and Courtney knew that was the perfect place for her.

"Hold on Courtney, Geoff wants to ask you one more thing."

Geoff picked up the phone. "Did you at least do some research on the job?"

"Of course!" Courtney got slightly offended with Geoff's question. "What kind of lawyer would I be if I didn't look up my information on the job?"

"And you STILL want to work for the company? Wow, Court. I never though you could handle it."

'_Geoff could be so stupid,' Courtney thought_. "I couldn't handle it! You are talking to Courtney Monroe here! I can handle anything." Courtney said confidently.

"Alright. I hope it's everything you hope it will be." Geoff said.

"Trust me; everything is going to go perfect."

* * *

Time went by fast for Courtney and before she knew it she was standing in front of her bedroom mirror smoothing out the wrinkles on black suede suit. She looked just like an attorney. Hair pulled back into a slick bun, a conservative suit with a skirt that went just a little bit above the knee, and opened toed heels that gave her an inch more of height. She practically oozed business.

As she stepped out of her home, a smile was set on her face. She checked her watch which read 7:45 which left her just enough time to be 'fashionably early' to her job. She got in her car and avoided all traffic along the way.

Parking her car and standing in front of the building, she felt so small compared to the thirty floored building. She took a deep breath and grinned before walking into the building.

'_This was home.'_

She got to the entrance of the building and caught an elevator. On her way up to the top floor when she was alone, she popped a few Tic-Tacs in her mouth and quickly checked her hair and make-up. The thirtieth floor was very spacious and had a great view of Canada. She walked up to the main desk saw a girl in her late teens smacking on some gum and reading seventeen magazine. She tapped on the desk to get the girl's attention.

"Hi, I'm Courtney Monroe. I just got a job here and I needed to be here at eight o'clock to go over some final information."

The girl looked up lazily and slowly flipped through some papers and pulled one out. "Ok, Courtney. Your room is on the twenty-fourth floor and your name will be on the door so that you can find it. The things you'll need should already be provided for you. Mr. Evans, or the CEO of this company, is going to take you early since the woman who was going to train you isn't here today. He will provide you with your first case and whatever other stuff you need to know. He's not in his room right now but you can go ahead in because he'll be back in a few minutes." The girl pointed towards the big office to the left of her.

Courtney smiled and walked inside the room. The office was amazing. The view was incredible! Everything about it was just awe making.

She sat down in one of the chairs thinking of how to talk to the CEO. This was the guy who would control her paychecks and promotions so she had to make a good impression on him. She heard a male talking to the girl at the front desk and Courtney suddenly became nervous. _What if he didn't like her? What if he decided that he didn't need her as a lawyer?_ All these thoughts flooded into Courtney's mind as she heard his footsteps getting closer and closer until . . .

"Courtney Monroe, long time, no see." Said a familiar voice.

She turned to the voice her eyes widened. "DUNCAN?! What the heck are you doing here?"

Duncan smirked. "Now, now. Is that anyway to talk to your boss?"

_No way._

**(A/N) So what do you think? Review! Reviews make me and my friend happy. **


	2. A Not So Warm Welcoming

**(AN) Hey what's going on! I just wanted to thank **_Beauty Kills, .pekkykid75., didn't feel like signing in, bella-ska8er, mythologyrulz, TrueJackVP408, and E-D-Songy-12 _**for reviewing. That was so nice of you guys and you made us very happy.**

**Alright here's the second chappie!**

"Courtney Monroe it's been a long time. My, my, my, haven't you grown?" He growled seductively checking her out.

"Haven't you not." Courtney mumbled.

"See, that kind of talk will make you lose money on your first paycheck." He smirked.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "You expect me to believe that you made good enough grades to go to a law school and then made enough money to own the top law firm in Canada? How stupid do you think I am?"

'_There is no way that Duncan could have made it into law school. He barely showed up at high school! Plus there is no way that Duncan has any chance of becoming a CEO of a company and Canada's best at that! He took basic classes throughout his whole school year. It was impossible!' _Courtney thought.

Duncan walked over and sat in the chair in front of his office desk. "I have my secrets."

"Secrets? Duncan, I know you. No offense but you've been a screw-up your whole life. There is nothing you've done in your life to be in a higher position than me."

He let out a soft chuckle. "Apparently you don't know that much about me."

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a card. It read:

_Duncan A. Evans, CEO_

_Anderson & Evans Law Firm_

"I think that's pretty self-explanatory." He smiled.

Courtney just stayed frozen for a while letting it all sink in.

"So," Duncan settled back in his chair. "Let's get down to business. Why didn't you call me over the summer?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you call me over the summer? You know, on graduation you promised to call me."

"That was six years ago!" Courtney shouted.

"So, I still have your number." He mumbled.

"What?"

"Never mind," He said.

There was an awkward silence that Duncan was letting linger between the two of them. It drove Courtney crazy and she felt as if she was going to burst if he didn't at least say something in the next second.

"SO?" Courtney said getting irritated.

"So . . . what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me what my first case is?"

He chuckled a little bit. "Your first case? Aren't you taking things a little too fast?"

Courtney's eyes widened. What was she here for? This was a law firm for goodness sakes and she's taking things too fast by asking what her first case was? "On the message I got on my phone it said that you found me very equipped to be one of your lawyers."

"Courtney, there's a lot of things I find you equipped for." He winked seductively. "BUT, right now if you want this job, you're going to do a couple of things for me."

He got out a black leather folder with the company logo on it and handed it to her. Courtney frowned for a second but because it was in such a fancy folder she thought it must be something important. She opened it cautiously. Moments passed as she read over the information before . . .

"ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME?!" She shouted as she began listing off the assignments that were given to her. "WASH YOUR CAR! GET YOU A LATTE! WASH YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY! ORGANIZE YOUR FILING CABINET! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

Duncan settled in his chair placing his feet on the desk getting ready to enjoy every second of Courtney's anger.

"I CAME HERE TO BE A LAWYER NOT YOUR MAID! DO YOUR OWN STUPID LAUNDRY!" Courtney threw the folder on the ground.

He grinned. "But I have a big company to run and I don't have time to do this . . . woman's work."

"WOMAN'S WORK! WHAT ARE YOU? SEXIST? BECAUSE THAT'S NOT WOMAN'S WORK! THAT'S DEGRADING CONDESCENDING WORK THAT ISN'T WHY I APPLIED FOR THIS JOB!"

"Look, it's very simple. If you don't want to do the assignment given to you, then you can walk out of this building right now and I will make sure that you never step into another law firm again OR you can do what I ask you to and soon become one of the most successful lawyers at this company with your face plastered on magazines, billboards, and television screens. Take your pick."

Courtney knew his ego was rising higher and higher with this conversation knowing that she was going to begrudgingly walk out the door and do every little thing he told her to just to keep this job.

"Fine," She said giving in and walking out the door.

"MAKE MY LATTE A DECAF!" Duncan called out and he smiled smugly when he heard Courtney's growl.

* * *

Courtney quickly did half of everything she was supposed to like a good little employee. She washed his car and got him a decaf latte, no questions asked. But her anger fumed the second she got to the dry cleaners.

She rapidly threw clothes in to the washing machine. "STUPID DUNCAN WITH HIS NASTY DIRTY CLOTHES AND EVIL ATTITUDE! HE MAKES ME SICK!"

Her phone rang and the name 'Bridgette' popped up.

"Hey, Bridgette." Courtney said tiredly.

"Lemme guess. You found out Duncan the CEO of the company and now your ticked because he gets to tell you what to do."

"Did you know?! And you didn't tell me? You didn't let me know what I was getting in to?!" Courtney's anger blazed again.

"Chill out! I just found out a couple of minutes ago. Geoff told me the whole thing and he guessed that you knew about it and that you were just going to go along with it anyways. He said he was trying to tell you but he got the impression that you knew what you were doing so he left it alone." Bridgette explained.

Courtney's hand met her forehead and she sighed trying to cool herself down. "I didn't think that he was talking about anything important. And now I'M STUCK HERE DOING LAUNDRY FOR DUNCAN!"

"Oooh, harsh." Bridgette said. "I wish I could give you some advice but in this situation I don't have much to tell you. I guess you're just going to have to either stick it out or quit the job."

"And we both know I don't quit." I said. "Well, look Bridgette. As much as I love to hear your voice, I'm kind of having a mental breakdown right now so I'll talk to you after I take some Tylenol."

Courtney hung up without saying goodbye.

_My life sucks. My life sucks. My life sucks._

* * *

Courtney got back to the law firm and stormed in Duncan's office where she found him yelling in his cell phone.

"I don't care! You need to get your facts straight. . . If you can't handle this case then I'll get somebody else to do it. . . It's not unsolvable it just takes brains something you don't have. . . Fine quit. . . I don't care. . ."

Courtney never saw Duncan in such a serious way. He actually looked like he meant business. He looked like he was wearing a Ralph Lauren Purple Label suit which was definitely one of the top ten most expensive suits in America. (A/n, not kidding I looked up the facts) The Mohawk was gone leaving him with short black hair that was slightly spiked. All and all he just looked very classy.

But Courtney was not about to let herself get caught up in his looks again. But to her dismay, he caught her staring.

"Checking me out, Princess?" He asked as he hung up the phone.

"Princess? Aren't you a little too old to still be calling me pet names?" She said.

"I've still got a wild side." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

_Some people never change._ "So am I done now?"

"You didn't organize my file cabinet." He happily reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. "How could I forget?" She walked over to the file cabinets and pulled them open.

"Duncan," She said. "They're already organized."

He smirked and walked over to the file cabinets and took a handful of the papers out and threw them on the ground. "Now they're not."

Courtney was so angry she began shaking. "DUNCAN!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!" She picked up a nearby book and threw it at his head. He chuckled a little bit and ran out of his office before she could do anything life-threatening .

"I hope you enjoy your new job!" Duncan yelled back as he ran.

**Yeah, so I guess that you see there is a lot of tension going on. Sorry to all the people that I didn't put up there as a thanks. I didn't get the chance to write them all down but we love yall! Hope you loved this chapter because a lot of thought went into it. **

**So yeah review! And I don't own Ralph Lauren just to let you know.**


	3. Finding Out

**Sorry we took too long to update! We've been uber busy in the last few days! Living in two different states really makes it hard. This chapter is going to have less humor and more gasps so get ready cause this one give a lot of well needed background on how the HECK Duncan became the CEO of the company. **

**By the way I just wanted to give a shout out to a couple of stories that are holding our attention right now.**

**The Art of Pretending Isn't Your Fault**

**Al Capone and Duncan Malone**

**And now for our thank-yous . . .**

_**.perkykid75., Beauty Kills, TeamJacobBlackTaylorLauntner, CarmillaD, E-D-Songy-12, TDI Ezekiel, Writing is a Poison, bella-sk8er, TrueJackVP408, Alexex, **__**ACP6/jokerlover97(THIS CHAPTER EXPLAINS IT ALL!)**_

**Love all you people who were sweet enough to review and please review more!!!! LOVES!**

**So what you've all been waiting for . . . **

"Come on Court. You're going to get an aneurism if you keep yelling like that."

"BUT HE'S CRAZY! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE MADE ME DO ALL THAT WORK! I SHOULD HAVE GRABBED HIS NECK AND CHOKED HIM UNTIL-"

Courtney had finally lost it and only after one day. After the so-called CEO had forced her to reorganize his filing cabinet, he sent her out. It was a shock to her at first. She couldn't believe that Duncan was actually giving her a break but he said that he wanted her to get acquainted with her new office which she was excited for. So once she found her name on the door she opened her it to view her office and the high tech supplies the company had already placed in there for her. But to her dismay, her room was practically bare except for a cheap rug on the floor, some paper, a printer, a cheap laptop, and two number two pencils. On top of the stack of paper given to her she found a note which read:

_Dear Courtney,_

_I remember how in our past time together you always liked to say you wanted to keep things simple. So, I took the liberty of going ahead and fulfilling that for you. I just wanted you to be more comfortable in your new in your new environment. I guess you could say I was feeling very generous. Well . . . have a nice day._

_Love, _

_Duncan_

She got so angry she stormed out of the building and ran to Bridgette's house and stopping to pick up some pain pills on the way.

Geoff put a hand on Courtney's shoulder to relax her. "You know, the best way to relieve stress from a hard day's work is to PARTAY! Listen, my brah is having a party over at his crib and his place is the bomb! He's got a killer mansion with a sweet surround sound system in the basement! You gotta come with me and Bridgette."

Geoff's answer to everything: a party. "Geoff as much as I enjoyed that first party you invited me to come with you which was also the day I got took down to the station, I think I'm going to back out of this one."

"Trust me; I think you'll like this. It'll be awesome! Just come. It's better than sitting around the house all day popping pain pills." Geoff said.

Courtney contemplated the idea. While she didn't feel like going out the house, she did need something to help her relax and while parties weren't exactly on the top of the list for relaxing, it was way better than anything else she was going to do. So the words 'I'll go' escaped her lips and before you knew it Bridgette was pushing her upstairs to her bedroom. She pushed Courtney onto the bed while she ran towards her closet rapidly throwing clothes towards Courtney.

"Bridgette," Courtney said dodging a shirt. "Is this really necessary? I mean it's just a party."

"It's a party Court, so you have to look pretty."

"You mean sleazy."

"No, I mean pretty." Bridgette pulled out a shiny, but not too shiny, black and gold sparkled shirt. A little outgoing and bright for Courtney's taste but then again Courtney's taste only included the colors gray, dark green, and brown. Courtney held the shirt up to her body while Bridgette threw out a pair of black skinny jeans.

"I don't know Bridgette, doesn't this seem a little too . . . crazy."

"It's a party, not a cotillion. You're supposed to dress a little bit crazier and plus, I think it'll look cute on you." Bridgette smiled. "Live a little."

Courtney took another look at the outfit. _'Well, it's not like anyone I know is going to see_ me.'

Oh how wrong she was.

* * *

Courtney jumped out of Geoff's hummer and smoothed out her shirt, watching a few of her sparkles fall to the ground. She heard the loud beat of music coming from inside this enormous mansion. It seemed like a house only fit for a superstar or actor or someone really important but not any of Geoff's friends. The outside was white and extremely modern and original at the same time. The house had to be seated at least seven acres because it seemed like the grass went on for ages. As the trio got closer to the house, Courtney keep wondering who of Geoff's friends would own something like this. He never mentioned any of his friends winning the lottery or becoming some sort of superstar.

"Geoff, whose home is this?" Courtney asked.

"Oh, just a good friend of mine, you know from back on total drama." Geoff replied coolly.

"What friend?" Courtney asked wondering who on total drama would own something like this.

"Well its –" Geoff was cut off by another male voice standing at the doorway.

"It's my house." Duncan said with a smirk playing on his face. "Owning a law firm really does pay the bills, don't you think Court?"

Courtney's face turned into a cherry as she turned to face Geoff. "YOU BROUGHT ME TO DUNCAN'S HOUSE FOR A PARTY AFTER I HAD A BREAKDOWN ABOUT HIM AT THE HOUSE? HOW DUMB ARE YOU?!"

"Chill, Courtney, I didn't think you'd get all angry about this. I just, you know, thought it would be relaxing for you." Geoff said his eyes shining with fear.

"HOW COULD YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT BEING NEAR THIS EVIL MANIPULATING OGRE WOULD BE RELAXING?" Courtney screamed.

"I'm sorry. But could you chill out a little bit? You're starting to draw some attention." Geoff said.

"I'M STARTING TO DRAW SOME ATTENTION! I DON'T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT IF I'M DRAWING SOME ATTENTION! JUST TAKE ME HOME NOW!" Veins began popping out of Courtney's neck as she continued her yells. By that time a small group of people had gathered at the doorway.

Bridgette talked to her calmly. "Court, you're overreacting. I know you've had a hard day at work but don't worry about it. We'll stay for a little while but we promise to take you straight home okay."

Courtney's face softened a bit. "Fine," She whispered harshly and took a quick glance at the still smirking Duncan.

"Nice outfit." He said as she walked past him. She gave him a sharp glare in response.

To her surprise, the party was not what she expected. It was crazy and loud with girls in provocative clothing dancing on their boyfriends but it was calmer. There was music, there was dancing, and there was alcohol but most people were holding conversations on the couches or drinking beer and laughing with their friends in the kitchen. It was definitely different than she would expect. But then too the right she saw a familiar face leaning against the wall.

"Gwen?" Courtney asked as she walked closer. During Total Drama World Tour, Courtney and Gwen formed a friendship after their short fight over who was going to have Duncan. It was an odd situation at first but soon they both realized that Duncan wasn't worth fighting over in the first place, well, that's at least what Gwen thought. Courtney, on the other hand, dated him throughout high school. But even though Gwen and Courtney never really talked much after the show, they still acted nice towards each other.

"Oh, hey Courtney, it's been a long time." Gwen smiled. She didn't look much different. She had the same hair cut, same pale skin, same gothic style, same everything.

"Yeah, it has."

"Let me guess, you were the one screaming outside weren't you?"

Courtney felt a small blush come on her face. "Yeah, just a little bit of a misunderstanding. Anyways, how have you been?"

"Normal, single. Same old, same old. What about you? I heard you got a job at Duncan's law firm."

"To my dismay, yes." Courtney responded. "I'm still trying to figure out how he owned the company in the first place."

"I wouldn't waste my time. No one knows. Not even Geoff. It's been a mystery since the day he first got the job. All anyone knew was that one day he was sitting on his lazy butt drinking beer and staying jobless and the next he was the owner of a law firm."

"He had to of gotten some sort of college education."

"No one knows. It was just like Duncan disappeared for some years and the next time somebody saw him was in the newspaper."

"Huh, that's interesting." Courtney said before seeing Duncan appear before her face.

"What do you want?" She sneered at him.

"I just wanted to introduce you to a couple of my friends." Duncan smiled genuinely like he really didn't have any devious plans behind this.

We walked towards a group of four guys talking while drinking some beer. "Guys!" Duncan said. "This is my maid."

"You're what?!" Courtney started.

"Dang Duncan you sure got a fine maid." One of the guys gave her an ugly smirk. "Do I know you?"

Courtney looked at his face trying to find any sign of recognition. "No,"

He looked taken aback. "Really? Because you look a lot like my next girlfriend."

Courtney's mouth dropped. Were these Duncan's long lost twins or something but even Duncan didn't use such lame pick up lines.

"Alright, Andrew lay off the pick up lines." Duncan said.

"What? You said she was just your maid."

Courtney frowned. "I'm not Duncan's maid! I'm work for him as a lawyer!"

"She thinks she's a lawyer." Duncan made a crazy sign on the side of his head. His friends laughed.

Courtney stalked away before they could make any more jokes on her. She walked back over towards Gwen who still leaned on the wall alone.

"Stupid Duncan . . ." Courtney mumbled near Gwen. "If he even tries to come and hit on me one time during this party I'll –"

"That should be the least of your problems since his current girlfriend is watching him like a hawk." Gwen pointed over towards a tall Asian girl with her hair put up in a bun.

"Is that Heather?" Courtney asked. Gwen nodded in response. Just like Gwen, Heather didn't look any different than how she did when they were together on the island.

"Yep, it's the now rich queen bee herself. She's been mooching off of Duncan 's money since the day they first met when Heather was trying to sue Leshawna for mauling her in the mall."

Courtney was still shocked at how everything was going down. Duncan who was mysteriously the owner of a law firm was dating Heather who was mooching off his money. It just all seemed so wrong. So she decided to take the first step in figuring out about what happened with Duncan.

"Gwen, I'll be right back."

Courtney snuck up the stairwell that led to what seemed like four different floors. All unnecessary to occupy one person. She wanted to find the one place that would hold all of Duncan's personal information.

His home office.

But with four floors to go and probably over twenty rooms to check, she was going to have a hard time finding out which room the office was in before Duncan realized she was gone. So she had to be quick.

On the first floor, she glided past a couple who were looking for a quiet place to sit and talk and make-out. She passed a couple of large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a bowling room, and a room that looked like an arcade. Then she traveled up another floor which held three more bedrooms, (what was this? A hotel?) A Jacuzzi room, and what looked like a mini casino which would probably be opened up later in the night. The third floor looked a little bare considering the other rooms but she found a large door which would seem like it would lead to the office. When she opened the doors, it was no office, but she figured it was Duncan's room. His room was almost as beautiful as the office. Large windows offering a great view, a big California King bed with a green comforter(figures), an extremely large flat screen television screen, and a closet probably the size of Geoff and Bridgette's apartment. Plus, it was clean, which was a big shocker for Courtney. She closed the doors instead of exploring his room and continued up the stairs to the fourth floor. There was no door, it was just a large open room.

She had found his office.

It was just as she had thought it would look like, overstuffed and everything securely locked but fortunately, due to Duncan's teachings, if she needed to pick a lock, it would be easy. Her eyes scanned the room looking for some sort of award or something that would tell her anything about Duncan's missing years but there was nothing that she saw so far. Then her eyes stopped at a frame. Inside that frame was a newspaper dated back at January 3, 2011 or 2 years ago.

_**Duncan A. Evans:**_

_**New CEO of Anderson & Evans Law Firm**_

_22 year old Duncan Evans, former reality show star and nephew of George Anderson- the owner of Anderson & Evans Law firm, finally became CEO of the one of the top law firms in Canada. _

"_I feel that my nephew is completely equipped to handle this business." George said._

_But even past those words, Duncan still had a problem with the authorities. Apparently his Juvenile Record held him back from taking this important position. Throughout it all though, Duncan fought his way past the authorities and into office because of his Uncle's condition._

_George was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few months back only leaving him with a short period of time to live. Apparently, George wanted the company to live on which is why he ask Duncan, the only family member able, to follow in his footsteps so to speak._

_Even with Duncan's horrid grades throughout high school, George, who had some connections with the Harvard school board, got Duncan accepted on special terms. But to everyone's surprise, Duncan graduated with perfect grades and as valedictorian sealing his deal as owner of the law firm._

_After his Uncle's death, Duncan since the company into sky rocket making it the top company there was. He had the best attorney's which solved some of the hardest cases._

_What else can we expect from Duncan and the law firm? Who knows. But whatever he has planned for the future is definitely going to the attention of many._

It all became clear to Courtney. He did this all because of his Uncle. He got into the best school, owned the best company, and did the best he could all for his Uncle and it touched Courtney's heart.

'_He did have a soft spot.' _Courtney thought.

But her thoughts were broken as she heard a voice.

"What are you doing in here?!"

* * *

**Ha! Another one of my famous cliffhangers. I know this chapter was longer than the others but we had a lot of ideas to put in this story! Again my apologies for taking for ever to update but aren't things better when you wait. So REVIEW! Please! We wanna know what you're thinking right now! We need your help to continue! REVIEW!**

**Express ur inner nerd!**


	4. You did WHAT now?

**Heyyyyy! We're back and shockingly still continuing this story. We are so thankful to all the great people who reviewed this story. Reviews show appreciation so keep them coming. We would list all the wonderful people who reviewed this story but unfortunately I can't look them up right now. So we're just going to continue on with the fourth chapter of the story. **

**Recap of ending (not necessary but it's so you don't have to look back on the other chapter)**

**Courtney was snooping around Duncan's office room and found out the reason why he is the CEO of law firm. But right as she put all the information together, the door opened and revealed . . .**

**

* * *

**

"Courtney!" Bridgette yelled from across the room. "What the heck are you doing in here? If Duncan finds you in here he's going to kill you."

Courtney jumped in surprise. "Oh my gosh Bridgette! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"You've got to get out of here. You just better be happy I found you before somebody else did." She said as she began pushing Courtney out of the room. While they were leaving, Courtney saw a silhouetted figure pass out of the corner of her eye. She tried to turn back but Bridgette kept moving her forward out of the room and down the stairs.

Once they were walking down the stairs, Courtney turned towards Bridgette. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"There was somebody in that room."

"I didn't see anybody. Are you sure you weren't hallucinating Court?" Bridgette eyed her friend suspiciously.

Courtney shrugged her shoulders and continued down the stairs. "I don't know. I just could have sworn I saw something."

"Well it couldn't have been Duncan. He was downstairs when I left."

"Well, whatever."

Once the two girls reached the bottom of the long fleet of stairs, they saw their beloved party boy jumping up and down on what had to be a sturdy dining room table. His shirt was off his body and he was spinning it around his head like a lasso.

"Geoff!" Bridgette called out to her boyfriend.

Geoff turned to her and grinned. "Hey Bridge, why don't you come up here and join me?"

Geoff was getting a couple of odd glances from the other adults while some of Duncan's friends were cheering below the party boy's feet.

"Is Geoff drunk?" Courtney asked.

"No, he's having a sugar rush." Bridgette said before running towards Geoff. Courtney, of course, didn't take Bridgette seriously and fast-walked behind Bridgette to help get Geoff from down off the table. They led the loopy blonde boy towards the couch, where they placed him down carefully. His head went around in circles for a moment before he started humming to himself.

"Wow, how much alcohol did you drink?" Courtney asked Geoff.

"None." Bridgette answered for him. "I told you he's having a sugar rush. He really needs to lay off the Orange Soda."

"You were being serious?" Courtney's eyebrows rose in shock. What kind of grown man still has a sugar rush? Isn't that only for little kids who eat too many Jolly Ranchers or something?

"We have to get him home." Bridgette cuddled her lovers head before grabbing his arms to pull him up. "Help me out."

The both them pulled Geoff up off the couch and carried him to the front door which Duncan was leaning against. He smirked when he noticed us carrying Geoff. "Did he get wasted already?"

"No, he's apparently having a sugar rush." Courtney told Duncan.

"Isn't that something little kids get when they eat too much candy?" The ex-juvenile asked.

"Apparently not." Courtney rolled her eyes as she walked out the door with Geoff.

Duncan grabbed her arm slowing Courtney's step. He stared at her for a second until he put on his infamous smirk. "Don't be late for work tomorrow."

Courtney growled and snatched her arm away. "You just better hope I show up."

"Don't show up for all I care. It's your loss not mine." Duncan snorted.

Courtney glared and continued carrying Geoff into the car and placing him in the backseat. Courtney sat shotgun while Bridgette drove.

"I hope something happens to that boy tomorrow."

* * *

Courtney took deep breaths as she stepped into her work confines once again. She took the long elevator ride up to her office. She was wearing another suit but instead of being black it was dark blue and unfortunately the skirt was shorter than the one on her other suit. So up the entire elevator ride she was continuously pulling down her skirt and trying not to pull it off her body. The doors opened and she swiftly walked towards her sad excuse for an office and opened the door. To her surprise she the office was completely different from the day before. There was a long black desk seated next to the window with a brand new laptop on top. The desk was organized with paper, pencils, and other unimportant things. Most importantly there was a note taped on to the desk that read:

_I saw you last night._

Courtney felt a shiver of fear go through her. What could this note be talking about? Who was this person? Did it have anything to do with her being in Duncan's office? Worse, was it Duncan?

She crumpled up the note and decided to find out if Duncan knew anything. She hastened out of the office and back into the elevator pulling her short skirt down again. She walked out of the elevator once she reached the thirtieth floor. Noticing that Duncan's office was closed, she knocked a few times before busting in the door.

"Look, I'll try and find some lawyer to help you with your case but most of my lawyers are having a hard time . . . I know . . . I know but I'll keep looking for somebody soon. . . I understand that but I've lost two lawyers who were working on this case. It's starting to become unsolvable." Duncan was talking on the phone but when he noticed I was at his door he smirked. "Look, I'll call you back later."

He hung up the phone with that smirk still plastered across his face. "Here to say thanks?"

Courtney excused his statement and went straight to the point. "Did you leave that note on my desk today day?"

Duncan frowned. "What note?"

"You know, that note that says 'I saw you last night'. Did you leave that on my desk?" Courtney asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Courtney, sensing that Duncan was playing hard-ball, took in a deep breath. "Look Duncan, I didn't come here to beg but . . . I'll do anything. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it I just wanted to know. And I didn't think that you would want to tell me about it so I had to find out for myself. I just really hope that this doesn't damage my career here. So I promise I'll do anything."

Duncan looked taken aback before he put on a grin. "Anything?"

"Anything without any complaints."

"Well then, since you put it that way, I think that you should do three things for me. Is that alright?"

"Of course." Courtney said without thinking.

"First off, you're going to go out on a date with me." The CEO watched Courtney's demeanor change. "Second off, you're going to go on a date with someone that I owe a favor. And third, you're going to work on the Henderson Case for me."

It was Courtney's turn to look shocked. "Okay, when I said anything I didn't mean . . ."

"NOPE!" Duncan interrupted. "No take-backs. You said anything so that means anything. I'll pick you up at 8 tonight."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Now go home and make yourself look hot." Duncan said before eying me up and down and stopping at my short skirt. "But then again, why don't you just wear that."

Courtney gasped and pulled down her skirt again. "You're such a pervert! I can't believe after all these years that you're still as immature as always."

He smiled before settling back in his chair. "I still can't believe after all these years that you're still as uptight as always."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not uptight."

"You know you're wasting precious time arguing with me when you could be making yourself even hotter than you already are. If that's possible."

"Wait . . . you're letting me go home? I just got here. Don't you want me to go help the janitor clean the bathrooms or get you breakfast or something?"

"No, I told you what I want you to do. And since you said you would do anything, I want you to go home and go do it." Duncan shooed her off with his hand.

Courtney blinked her eyes a couple of times a little shocked with how things went down. First off Duncan didn't seem mad in the slightest about him finding her in his office when Bridgette said that Duncan would kill anybody going into his office. Then he let her go home early. Courtney tried to think of some sort of catch to this but it seemed like Duncan was being truthful.

* * *

"Really?" Bridgette said while continually brushing Courtney's hair. While it seemed weird for one adult in her early twenties to brushing the hair of another, Bridgette insisted. After Courtney explained what happened that day at work and how she was shockingly going on a date with Duncan, Bridgette wanted to help Courtney get ready.

"Yeah, I'm serious. It was like he didn't even care that I was in his office."

"Wow, he must really like you. You should be happy he didn't fire you."

"I know, that's why I'm not putting too much of a fight up with going out with him. As much as it kills me, I have to do it." Courtney grimaced.

Bridgette let out a loud sigh. "Here we go again."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you're not utterly thrilled to go out with the world's hottest guy. If I wasn't dating Geoff, I would have been all over him."

"Well I don't find him that attractive."

Bridgette raised an eyebrow at Courtney before she picked up the curling iron and began curling Courtney's hair.

"I don't!" Courtney stated adamantly.

"Whatever." Bridgette mumbled.

Silence passed between them for a good while before Courtney heard a honk outside. She groaned as Bridgette finished the last curl. "Perfect." Bridgette said. "Now go get your man."

Courtney checked herself in the mirror. She was wearing a short black dress with more leg length than the suit and black heels. The classic date outfit. Her hair was curled around her face bringing out her freckles. She sighed and walked out the door with Bridgette trailing behind her. Once Bridgette left the house and walked to her car, Courtney locked up her home and walked towards Duncan's Aston Martin. (A/N That is my favorite car! If you haven't seen it, look it up!)

She stepped in the car and gave Duncan a small smile. To her surprise, Duncan didn't make any comments about her outfit or how she was actually going out with him. He just drove quietly.

"You don't seem so thrilled that I'm going out with you? I thought you want to go on a date with me."

"Let's not call this a date, Courtney."

Courtney was confused. "What do you want to call it?"

Duncan grimaced as he looked out on the road. "Let's call it a meeting. A conversation between two people over some important matter."

"What matter?"

Duncan's head lolled back and he took in a sharp breath before looking back at the road. "What the heck were you doing in my office the other night?"

Courtney's eyes widened. "I thought we already established that. Remember, you left me that note on my desk and I came and told you I was sorry and that I would do anything."

"I didn't know what you were talking about?! I was just playing along, trying to take advantage of what you offered and then when I decide to go home and I walk into my office and find black and gold sparkles everywhere on the floor. Ones that matched the shirt you wore to my party the other day. And for those few minutes when you went missing I had no idea you were in my office!" Duncan started getting louder and angrier.

"I told you I was sorry. I didn't know what I was thinking." Courtney started getting quieter.

"Yeah, you didn't. What where you doing in there anyways?"

"I just wanted to know how you became CEO. That's all."

"THAT'S ALL! No one ever goes in my office! That has personal stuff in there. Did you find what you were looking for? Let me guess, you read the newspaper article that was on the wall."

Courtney shook her head.

"SEE! NEVER GO IN MY OFFICE AGAIN! I understand how you think I'm so stupid and that there is no way I could be CEO of a company but honestly, how low can you get?!"

"Well, why do you have the article framed on the wall in the first place if you didn't want people to see it?"

"Because people aren't supposed to be going in my office in the first place. I don't want people to know about that."

"About what, Duncan?" Courtney said getting a little angry. "That you have a soft spot. That you actually did something honorary? That you actually did something with your life? Who shouldn't know that? I know your ego is so big and you reputation is supposed to be so bad that you don't want anyone to think that you are actually smart but this is something good. You shouldn't be afraid to hide it."

Duncan pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant (A/N I'm not going into detail about the name). He turned towards me. "You know what, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten all ticked off at you like that because you're right. So can we try and get through this evening without killing each other because I want to actually enjoy watching you go through the things three things that you have to do."

"Wait a second, you said you didn't write the note. So that means it doesn't count anymore."

"But you went into my office without permission so I think you still should have to go through with this."

Courtney rolled her eyes but then stopped when it all hit her. "So if you didn't write the note about seeing me, than who did?"

* * *

**A/N Not a lot of comedy in this chapter. I think I might change this to Romance/Drama or something. What do you think? Let me and my friend know. But don't these chapters keep getting longer and longer? That's why it took so long for me to update. Well, I gotta go because the battery on my laptop is about to die. SO YEAH! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	5. Date with a Nerd

_**READ THIS! IMPORTANT NEED TO KNOW STUFF!**_

**Thank you to all who reviewed. I'm not going to type up the names again because it's too late and I'm too tired. Just wanted to let you know that we came up with something totally awesome for a new story but I'm not going to give you any detailed information yet. This is the only thing: I got the idea from a TV show. I bet most of you won't even guess it. **

**Anyways, let's just get on with this story because this is a really really really long chapter and I know you are going to love it. A lot of comedy in this chapter. Thanks CarmillaD for letting me know what I messed up on. I didn't even pick it up and I'll try and remember this time.**

**While reading this chapter I also want to let you know . . . everything is written for a reason ;). If you don't understand it now, you'll get it later.**

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Courtney thought through all the people that could have written the note as she walked in the door of the restaurant. All her thoughts were washed away as she stepped inside. The restaurant was simply beautiful. Chandeliers hung high on multiple places on the ceiling. The tables were covered with a deep red table cloth giving the area a more romantic feel and classy jazzy music played at a hushed tone.

"Wow Duncan, of all the places I would have thought you would have taken me, this was on the bottom of my list. You shockingly have some pretty good taste." Courtney stared around at the area in awe.

"Yeah well . . ." Duncan shrugged his shoulders.

The two of them walked up to the hostess stand where a blonde girl in black slacks, a dress shirt, and a loose black tie stood. She looked up at the two, her eyes stopping at Duncan.

'_Of course,'_ Courtney thought inwardly.

The hostess immediately stood up and ran a hand through her hair keeping her eyes fixed with Duncan's. She put on a big grin still not bothering to look at Courtney. "Hi." She breathed heavily.

Duncan winked which made the girl's grin get even wider, if that was even possible. Courtney, on the other hand, glared at the girl. "Hi. Obviously, we don't have all day so can you please just direct us to our table?"

The girl blinked out of her trance and turned towards Courtney. "Oh, of course. Do you have reservations?"

Duncan stepped closer towards the girl. "No, but I really was hoping to get a seat. Do you think you could work something out?"

The girl blushed. "Yeah, I'll seat you at a table right now." She pulled a couple of menus out of the stand.

She led them to a table towards the back that had a 'reserved' sign on it. She grabbed it off the table and placed the menus on the there.

"Thanks sweetheart." Duncan flirted before sitting down.

The hostess bit her lip blushing even deeper. For a few seconds she just stood there, staring at Duncan which irked Courtney.

"Um," Courtney looked at the nametag on the hostess. "Jennifer is it? You're done here."

The girl just stood there as if she didn't hear Courtney.

Courtney's eyebrows rose at the fact the girl didn't move so she snapped her fingers in front of Jennifer's eyes. Jennifer jumped in response. "Leave." Courtney said sternly.

Jennifer scampered off and Courtney turned back towards a smirking CEO. "Flirt much?" Courtney asked.

"Jealous much?" Duncan retorted grinning as Courtney gave him the same glare she gave Jennifer.

"I'm not jealous. I just think that it was really improper how you kept flirting with that girl." Courtney said.

"Did you want the table or not princess?"

"Of course I wanted the table but you didn't have to flirt with her to get it. I could have gotten the table easily without having to do any of that nasty stuff that you did."

Duncan rolled his eyes. "But your way would have involved threatening her and possibly mauling her which really doesn't get you on people's good side."

"Thank you Dr. Phil." Courtney said before opening her menu.

The waiter, who was fortunately a male, finally came to the table to take their drink orders. After he left, Courtney decided to find out some more information about the three things that Duncan was making her do.

"So, tell me about this friend that I'm going to have to date." She said.

Duncan grinned for a second. "Well, his name is Harold. He's the janitor for the office building."

"You set me up with the janitor?"

"Kind of. We were playing a game of poker and I made a bet that if he lost he'd have to get rid of all the star wars posters he was sticking on the walls of the building. If he won, I'd have to set him up with a girl." Duncan explained while looking over his menu. "Guess who won."

"So, you're setting me up with him? THE JANITOR?" Courtney, yet again, started getting loud, drawing the attention of a few people.

The waiter came back with the drinks and took the couple's order before leaving again. Courtney continued her rant except at a lower tone. "I'm part of your stupid bet now?"

"Chill Princess. You said you'd do anything without any complaints." Duncan said getting a huff from Courtney. It was obvious he was enjoying making Courtney eat her words.

"Whatever." Courtney said sharply. "Tell me about my first case which took long enough to get."

"You mean the Henderson case." Duncan eyes darted across the area as if in panic mode. "It's a nice case I guess."

"What's it about?"

"Murder." Duncan mumbled.

"Okay, details."

"A fifteen year old daughter named Caroline Henderson was murdered a few months ago. The plaintiff, Jeremy Henderson the father, is accusing the defendant, Jacqueline Rhodes the neighbor, for killing the daughter while she was over at her house helping Jacqueline work on the garden. All signs point to Jacqueline as the killer." Duncan explained.

"So you already think Jacqueline did it."

"Uh . . . pretty much."

"So I must be defending the father." Courtney said.

"No, you're defending Jacqueline." Duncan winced a little bit, looking afraid at how Courtney would react but before she could a former Goth came up to the table.

"Hey guys." Gwen said. "You two on a date?"

Courtney was caught a bit off guard. "Hey Gwen. No, we're not on a date. It's a meeting."

"Yeah, sure." Gwen mumbled. "Anyways, I need your help. I go to the community college for art and we're working on a big project. It's a 'real life' project. We're supposed to get pictures of people doing everyday things. When I saw you two here I thought it you'd be awesome. I thought it would look great if I had a picture of two people dating. So pretty much, I need pictures of you two looking all lovey-dovey towards each other."

"I can do a lot of things but one thing I can't do is look at Duncan with some hint that I actually like him." Courtney folded her arms over her chest.

"Oh please, you do it all the time. It shouldn't be that much of a problem should it?" Duncan said.

"Please Courtney." Gwen said.

Courtney grimaced. "Be happy I like you Gwen. Otherwise, I would refuse."

"What do you need us to do?" Duncan asked.

"Okay, Courtney, I need you to rest your head on your hand and stare dreamily into Duncan's eyes and Duncan I need you to smile at her genuinely." Gwen said while pulling out her camera.

Courtney reluctantly did as she was told as did Duncan and Gwen took the picture.

"Okay, now kiss each other." Gwen directed.

"OH HECK NO!" Courtney said a little louder than called for. "I like you Gwen but not that much."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Fine, well could you at least lean in to pretend you're going to kiss him."

Courtney groaned. "Do I have to?"

"If you don't want to do it then I will." Duncan said before almost pulling Courtney out of her seat and onto the table, their lips less than a millimeter apart. Gwen smiled at the sight and took another shot.

Courtney settled herself back in the seat and glared at Duncan. "Don't act like you didn't like it." Duncan said smugly.

"I guess that's good enough since I know Courtney wouldn't go through with another one." Gwen put her camera back in her bag.

"Why are you here anyways?" Courtney asked.

"I'm also on a date with my boyfriend Justin." Gwen said.

"You mean Justin from Total Drama?" Duncan asked. Gwen nodded.

"I thought you said you were single." Courtney stated.

Gwen paused for a moment. "He kind of just asked me out. This is our first date and I'm really trying to make a good impression which I don't think I'm doing since I'm sitting over here talking to you two so I'm going to go." Gwen said before strolling off towards Justin.

_What a shocker._

* * *

Courtney sat in her swivel chair flipping through the pages of the Henderson Case left on her desk that morning. She had a bottle of water and two bottles of aspirin as read over the information while rubbing her temples. It was late and time for her to go home but instead she was stuck in the office trying to get this through her head. The case itself was a lot for Courtney to handle especially for her first one. And it wasn't like she could act like she it was too much for her, otherwise Duncan wouldn't let her live it down.

The whole thing went like this. On January 13, 2010 Caroline Henderson was found dead out in the garden of Jacqueline Rhodes. The murder weapon used was a shovel that apparently knocked Caroline out cold and was left in the grass near Caroline's body. The shovel that had Jacqueline's fingerprints on it. The father stated he didn't know about the death of his daughter until he got home to pick her up from the neighbor's house. He found Jacqueline staring over Caroline's dead body with bloody hands.

From the layout, Courtney knew she was going to have a hard time defending Jacqueline because Duncan was right, all fingers pointed towards her. Courtney was going to have to take some time to think this through otherwise she might end up embarrassing in front of many people.

Courtney then realized that the whole case was too much. There was no way Courtney had the ability to do this, especially being a newbie. So she walked out of her office and into the elevator to find Duncan.

She moved out of the elevator towards Duncan's office where she could see from far away his feet propped up on his desk. She walked in the room without a knock to find Duncan going through some papers.

"I can't do this." The words felt weird coming out of Courtney's mouth.

Duncan looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is Courtney Monroe actually saying she can't do something?"

"Cut the crap, Duncan. I can't do this. This is my first case and you throw me a hardball." Courtney complained.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "You asked for this didn't you? First off, you said you'd do anything I ask so I asked you to do a menial task and yet you can't do it? This is what this job offers. You wanted to be a fancy lawyer, you got it. Don't come running to me when it's just a little bit too hard. Like you told Geoff the first day you got the job, you can handle anything."

"How'd you hear about that?" She asked.

"After you called Bridgette bragging about your new job, Geoff called me to see if it was really true and he told me what you said."

'_Retard,' _Courtney thought to herself. (A/N no offense to anyone mentally challenged)

"Listen Duncan, I've been sitting downstairs in my office for my entire work day making a couple of calls to some people and I even set up an appointment to meet Jacqueline in jail. I'm super tired and it's late. I'm just letting you know, that I will try my best but don't expect much."

Duncan put a sincere look on his face. "I know you're stressed Courtney and I think I know the perfect thing to make you feel better."

Courtney was taken aback by his sudden attitude of kindness. "What?"

"To make you feel better, I just wanted to remind you of your date with Harold tonight."

"TONIGHT!" Courtney shouted.

Duncan smirked. "Yeah, it's tonight. Since Harold already left early today, he needed me to drive you to where he was taking you."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Courtney asked glaring daggers at Duncan.

"Actually, I was about to come downstairs and let you know since your shift is over but you kind of beat me." He smiled standing up from his chair.

"I hate you." Courtney grumbled.

"I know." Duncan smirked as he led Courtney out the room and locked his office for the night.

* * *

Duncan pulled up in the parking lot of the restaurant 'Simply Divine' which Courtney had read was one of the most top notch restaurants around.

"Harold is taking me here?" Her face lit up with shock and happiness.

Duncan scoffed. "You wish. You're eating across the street."

Courtney frowned as she looked across the street at the big golden arches.

"MCDONALDS! HE'S TAKING ME TO A FREAKING MCDONALDS!" Courtney yelled.

Duncan repressed his laughter. "What can I say? He's a janitor."

Courtney began breathing heavily and glaring at Duncan with such intensity he almost got a little scared for a second. Almost. "Well," Duncan began backing up towards the fancy restaurant. "I've got an Asian girlfriend in a red dress waiting for me inside this place so enjoy your date."

Duncan ran off into the eatery while Courtney looked across the street in anger. She was contemplating if she was actually going to step inside the grease wasteland or walk home. She was about to take the second choice when she remembered that she had a commitment to Duncan and as much as she hated it, she promised she'd do anything.

That is what led her to cross the traffic-filled street and walk towards the McDonalds building where she had a disgusting greeting. Harold's face was pressed up against the glass where fog and saliva built up from his heavy breathing against the glass. He was wearing high-watered food stained jeans along with a dirty white t-shirt. He looked like he just came from the dumpster. His hair was a wreck and as she got closer she saw a bug fly into that rat's nest of his. When Courtney walked in, he immediately stared at her in awe.

"Hi," he breathed reminding her of the way the hostess, Jennifer, talked to Duncan the other night. "I'm Harold. I'm sure you've seen me around cleaning and stuff."

"Yeah, um are we seriously eating here?"

"Uh-huh. Pretty fancy right?" Harold smiled wiping his nose which Courtney just realized was dripping with snot. For a janitor, he wasn't very clean himself.

"Ew," Courtney said before walking ahead towards the food line.

"You can order anything you want." Harold said as they approached the cashier.

"Thanks." Courtney mumbled sarcastically.

"As long as it's off the dollar menu." Harold added.

Courtney let out a long breath before ordering a large iced tea. Harold ordered a double cheeseburger and they moved over towards the pick-up area. "I have another surprise for you." Harold said as they picked up their food and drinks.

Harold led Courtney towards the play area where there was one candle sitting barely glowing atop the big slide.

"You're kidding me." Courtney was shocked that someone had the audacity to bring her to a McDonalds and rent out the playhouse. How old did he think she was? Three?

"Nope, I rented it out just for you. It only cost me five dollars too. What a steal right?" Harold sniffed.

Courtney was about to go off on the guy when she realized her promise. She had to do anything without complaining. She seriously was beginning to regret those words.

"Me Lady," Harold opened up the door towards the play area.

Courtney didn't know what to say. Of all the bad dates in the world, she rated this one the worst. There could be no date on earth that would go any cheaper than this. And all Courtney could do was except it and move on.

Harold urged her to climb the small stairs to the top of the big slide. She sat on the edge away from Harold. She was about to pick up her tea and take a big sip when Harold sneezed right on her straw and hand. Courtney shrieked in response, jumping off the ledge and running to the bathroom to wash her hands. While she did, she tried to devise a plan to get out of this date as soon as possible. Not even ten minutes into the date and Courtney was already going crazy. She decided to play sick. That way Harold wouldn't have any complaints that Courtney was mean to him and Courtney would get to leave. It was a win-win situation.

She walked back out to the play area where Harold was sliding down the slide, seeming to have the most fun in his life.

Courtney put on her best acting face and she walked out towards the play area. "Harold," she called out in a sick voice. "I'm not feeling very well. As much as I am enjoying this date, I think we might have to cut it short."

Harold stopped sliding and immediately walked over to Courtney with his Double Cheeseburger in hand. "Oh Courtney, don't worry about it. I know how you feel. Maybe we'll do this some other time." Harold said leading her out of McDonalds.

Courtney looked across at the fancy restaurant across the street and didn't see Duncan's car there anymore. He said he had a date and it was barely fifteen minutes after he dropped her off. Why would he be gone already. Courtney's thoughts went to other places as she saw Harold's car. It was completely rusted. All the color looked like it had been scraped off and then there were dents in multiple places from small car accidents.

She reluctantly touched the handle to open the car door and sat inside. The car inside was nothing like the outside. Everything was Star Wars. He had little Yoda's on his dashboard. Pictures of Anakin were plastered on the fabric of his car seats and light savers sat in the back of the car glowing brightly.

"Wow, you really have an interest in Star Wars." Courtney said.

"Duh, it's only the best show in the world." Harold said. He pressed turned on the radio button. "Listen to this awesome CD I have."

Before Courtney knew it, the Star Wars theme song started blasting throughout the car. It was so loud that anyone from a forty mile radius away could hear it.

"CAN WE TURN IT DOWN?" Courtney shouted over the music.

"That's the lowest setting!" Harold yelled back.

Harold turned on the car and began backing out of the parking lot. There were no words spoken between the two since the music was so loud they wouldn't be able to hear each other anyways.

Harold stopped at a video store and parked in front of the doors. He turned off the loud music and rolled Courtney's window down. "I'll be right back. Since I can't leave the car on for air, I rolled down the windows."

Harold got out of the car and ran off towards the video store. A car pulled up right beside Courtney. She tried to see who stopped near her through the tinted windows but they were too dark. But the driver was soon exposed when he rolled down his window, sporting his famous smirk. He stared at her for a minute without uttering a word. Then after a few moments, he burst out into a fit of laughter.

"DUNCAN! HELP ME!" Courtney called over to him.

Duncan wiped the tears from his eyes and turned on loud rock music. "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Duncan started laughing again before he sped off leaving tracks on the road.

Thirty minutes later, Harold came out of the store. "What took you so long?" Courtney asked.

"Well, I couldn't decide whether to get volume one of star wars or volume two. In the end, I just got both." He said.

Courtney glared at him. She didn't know how much more of this evening she was going to be able to take. She pointed at the wheel. "Drive . . . NOW!"

Harold's eyes got big and drove off from the video store not taking anymore detours until he got to Courtney's house. Courtney got out of the car and slammed the door behind her.

"No goodnight kiss?" Harold had the audacity to ask.

Courtney held her tongue from spilling out words that would make the guy run off and cry and turned around with a grim smile on her face. "Kiss Yoda goodnight!" Courtney yelled.

Harold's eyes got wide yet again and he drove off without question. Courtney closed her eyes and counted to ten but once she got a hold of herself and opened her eyes, she looked across the street where an unrecognizable car sat. The driver soon realized they were noticed and sped off into the night leaving Courtney full of wonder.

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**Yes, we know this was a really long chapter but we hoped you liked it anyways. I enjoyed writing the date with Harold part. So please review and I don't care if you flame this chapter because while I enjoyed writing it, I thought it was really suckish anyways. Future chapters will be better so keep reading!**


	6. Before SHE Cheats

_**READ THIS!**_

**(A/N) Hey again. We just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews yet again. Fortunately after my mental breakdown from the last chapter and as sucky as I felt that one was, I think this one will be much better and much more detailed. So as usual if you disagree, review and tell me what I wrote wrong and I promise I won't get mad.**

**Also, I know in the last chapter I made it seem like Courtney didn't know who Harold and that was a complete accident. So in this chapter try not to get confused when Bridgette knows who Courtney is talking about.**

**By the way I've come up with a better idea for a Duncan and Courtney story and we think it will be just as good as this one. I think the title is going to be either 'The Big Heist' or 'The Heist'. It's not going to be a comedy one though. I think it's going to be Romance/Adventure or something along those lines. But anyways, I've already started writing the first chapter but it won't be out until this story is finished and this story is far from finished. I don't think I'm even halfway done yet.**

**So anyways, enjoy this detailed chapter.**

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Courtney arose from her late night slumber. Last night she had the hardest time sleeping. She had the worst date of her life with one of the weirdest guys alive. Then she had the unsettling feeling of being watched all night long after the sight of the car. Then the fact that she had to go to work and deal with an unfair egotistical boss and had to do one of the hardest cases of her life didn't make it any easier.

She took a long shower, clearing her mind of everything stressing her out. But one thought remained.

Duncan.

Every time she would think of him she would always cringe in anger. Just the very thought of his smirk made her twitch. But as his face stayed in her head, she didn't make any involuntary movements based on rage. Instead she felt a slight smile tug on her lips. The sarcasm he always used. The way he manipulated her into anything. The way he commented suggestively about her looks just to make her angry. She found herself enjoying it even though she would never admit it. But soon enough before she got lost in her thoughts, she quickly replaced the smile on her face with a frown and she turned her thoughts back to the stress she was anticipating from work.

She stepped out of the shower and pulled on one of her fancy, yet short-skirted, suits. She left her hair wet deciding that she would let it curl naturally. She evaluated herself in the mirror, grabbed a breakfast bar, and left her home.

As soon as she got in the car, the annoyingly cute ring tone of her cell phone went off as she saw Bridgette's picture appear on the identification screen.

"Hey Bridge," Courtney greeted.

"Hey Courtney. I know we haven't talked in a while but I just wanted to check up on you since you're stuck with that bad job. So how's it been? Have you quit yet? Have you fallen for Duncan's manly charms?"

"Exact opposite." Courtney stated dryly. "In fact, I've been assigned to one of the hardest cases alive and I've gotten pegged as Duncan's girlfriend by Gwen. To top it all off, I had to go on a date with Harold."

"Total Drama Harold?" Her blond friend asked.

"Virus infected, Star Wars obsessed, Total Drama Harold." Courtney grimaced at the thought. "I don't even want to talk about it. So how 's Geoff?" Courtney started up another topic.

"Good I guess. Geoff and Duncan are keeping in contact more often. Actually, I heard them talking about you one day."

Courtney frowned. What could Duncan possibly have to say about her? "So what did he say?"

"Something about how Duncan was setting you up for something." Bridgette said.

Courtney's mind got distracted by what Bridgette said so she had to slam on the breaks when nearing a red stoplight. "Setting me up for what?"

"I don't know but don't worry. I don't think it'd be anything bad." Bridgette said.

"Don't think it'd be anything bad? This is Duncan we're talking about. _Bad_ boy Duncan. There is a 99% chance he's setting me up for something bad!"

"Courtney, you're overreacting again. Chill out."

Courtney took a couple of deep breaths. "Your right. I need to stop assuming." Courtney parked in front of the law firm. "I'll call you later Bridge. I'm at work."

She hung up the phone and walked into her work place. Hopefully today would be the day she wouldn't have to see Duncan's face at all. She spent more time with the CEO than anyone else in the company which always got her disappointing glances from the other workers. It's not like she wanted to be around Duncan all the time but it just turned out to be that way. She didn't enjoy being around him at all.

Or did she?

Courtney stepped into the crowded elevator. As she squished in between a couple of people, one girl gave her the stink eye. The more she looked, the more she realized the girl was Heather.

"Your Courtney right?" Heather glared.

"Yeah," Even though Courtney didn't work much around Heather during Total Drama, she knew how she could be towards people. It was the reason she kept her distance from her. Not because she was intimidated but because she knew how their somewhat close personalities can react when collided with each other.

"I just wanted to let you know that you need to keep your slimy gross hands off of Duncan." Heather said

Courtney's eyes just widened in response.

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't act all surprised and innocent, Courtney. Everyone in this building knows about what you've been doing with Duncan and I'm here to put an end to it. You had your chance with him but he's mind now so keep off."

Courtney blinked in utter shock for a second. Then anger overcame her. "Look here Heather. I haven't touched your boyfriend and honestly I don't want him. So why don't you back off."

"I'm sorry, I don't speak stupid." Heather replied smugly.

"Oh that's right, you speak dumb." Courtney said as soon as the elevator dinged at her floor. Courtney looked over her shoulder at Heather with a smile as she exited the elevator. "Nice chatting with you."

The brunette let out a sigh of stress before unlocking the door to her office. Once she was inside, she sat down in her swivel chair, pulling out the folder labeled "Henderson Case". After all the time spent towards this case, Courtney knew that rereading over the information wasn't going to cut it. Fortunately, before her stressful date with Harold, she set up an appointment to meet Jacqueline in jail that morning. The bad part was that it only gave her a little bit over an hour or so to come up with deep substantial questions.

Right on time, her rich boss came walking around her floor, shockingly not coming into her office. He started talking to a couple of lawyers and laughing with them. Every time Courtney would see him in that state, he just seemed so different. It blew her mind how business-like he looked to her as if it almost seemed he's been diligent and reliable his entire lifetime. Courtney was one open to change but it was almost too much for her to handle.

All of a sudden, Duncan met her gaze for a quick second and before long he was already heading towards her office. He opened the door with a serious look on his face. "You need some help?"

Courtney was yet again shocked at his sudden generosity. "Yes!"

"Well, too bad." Duncan smirked before walking further into her office and shutting the door behind him.

Courtney rolled her eyes. She figured he wasn't being serious. "If you're not going to help, then you might as well leave because you're not welcome."

Duncan leaned against the wall. "Last time I checked, I gave you this office so I don't think it matters if I'm welcome or not."

Courtney growled in defeat.

"Oh don't act like you didn't want me in here."

Courtney just stared at him with a look that said 'I can't believe you have the audacity to say that'.

"I saw you staring at me." Duncan stated smugly as he pulled up a chair next to Courtney. As soon as he did, Courtney tensed up causing Duncan to raise an eyebrow. "Do I still make you weak at the knees?"

Courtney scoffed. "Ew! NO! Could you just please leave? I'm trying to work on the case that you gave to me, remember? I only have a set amount of time that I can work on these questions before I have to go visit Jacqueline in jail which I'm not looking forward to."

"Tell you what. How about go with you to visit Jacqueline in jail since I'm so familiar with the place? Would that make it easier?" Duncan asked.

"Are you being serious this time?" Courtney didn't face him but instead looked down at the paper she was writing her questions on.

"Yes," Duncan drawled.

Courtney looked up at him and smiled genuinely. "That's a shocker."

Courtney and Duncan worked on the questions together without Duncan making any smug or suggestive remark and without Courtney screaming at him for being perverted. Courtney was actually beginning to like this time with the ex-juvenile. But when she saw a few other workers staring in her office window, her stomach twisted.

"Duncan, I don't think we should be doing this." Courtney looked a little embarrassed.

Duncan frowned at her sudden outburst of disapproval. "What do you mean?"

"Don't act like you haven't heard." Courtney looked at Duncan for some sign of remembrance but instead he still had the same perplexed look on his face. "You really haven't? Everyone thinks that we're . . . you know . . . um . . . in a . . . relationship."

"Last time I checked we kind of are. I'm your boss, you're my employee." Duncan said.

"No, Duncan. They think we're in a . . . intimate relationship."

Duncan smirked at this statement and Courtney waited to hear some perverted statement Duncan would make. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders. Courtney frowned. "Aren't you abhorred at this statement?"

"Not really." Duncan met her eyes. "It shouldn't bother you anyways right? It's just office gossip unless . . . you don't want people to start figuring out your secret."

"What secret?"

"The secret that you are complete obsessed with me even though you constantly convince yourself otherwise." Duncan grinned.

Courtney opened her mouth to disagree but no words came out. Duncan stared at her for a moment as if reading her but the same smug look came across his face. "Maybe we should make the gossip true."

Courtney paused for a moment as if almost contemplating the fact of dating her boss but then in a split-second she came back to her senses. "EW! Oh my gosh, do you ever grow up?"

"You know you want to."

"NO! I DON'T!" Courtney yelled.

"Then why did you hesitate?" The CEO replied calmly.

Courtney's eyes widen. _Was it that noticeable? _Duncan grinned and got up from the seat. "That's what I thought. Now come on, let's go to prison."

* * *

Prison was exactly as anyone would depict it as. Disgusting. Courtney felt as if she had to carry a bottle of germ-x wherever she went. The walls were coated in rust and mold and a musty scent lingered through the air. The floor was crusted and cracked and roaches and rats roamed the sticky floor. To the left of her, a few girls wolf whistled from their jail cells towards Duncan. Courtney felt a pang of jealously run through her as he winked back at the girls being as flirtatious as usual. "You're so disgusting." Courtney said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Jealousy isn't a good quality, sweetheart." He said smoothly. Courtney was about to respond when a red-head who was being carried in by these two policemen, jumped away from them and ran towards us.

"OHMYGOSH! Whatareyoutwodoinghere? Areyouonadateorsomething? ! . . Istilllovethebigguy!" The girl rambled on and on

"Izzy?" Courtney questioned trying to run the lines of words through her brain. "What are you doing here? And this time please slow down when you speak."

"I'm not really sure. All I know was it involved a wild party and a couple of beers but whatever. I like it here." Izzy said before the two police officers pulled her away from the two and Izzy waved goodbye with a silly grin.

"Weird." Courtney rolled her eyes. The two of the moved towards a crude filthy desk with a female guard sipping down a cup of coffee.

"Hi, we've got an appointment to visit Jacqueline Rhodes." Courtney said towards the guard. She gave a grim smile before taking out a walkie-talkie.

"This is Eileen. Rhodes' visitors are here." She spoke before leading the couple into a dimly lit hallway. "This is where we keep the crazies. It's mostly murderers or serial killers on life sentence or death row."

Towards the left she saw Izzy who must have just been assigned to a cell with two other women. The scent was utterly repulsive. Women spat at Courtney as she walked past their cells while Duncan got all the attention. One of the women even reached out towards him and brushed her dirty fingers against his shirt collar but Courtney, letting her jealousy get the best of her, swatted the hand away and snarled at the girl. Of course, immediately afterwards while she was rubbing more germ-x in between her hands, Duncan smirked at her sudden act. Courtney tried to ignore his piercing eyes but she couldn't stop the heat that was rising to her cheeks. After a walking a far enough distance, they took the two of them into a room. Inside that room sat Jacqueline. She looked nothing like a murderer; in fact it looked like she was in her mid fifties. She looked more like a calm grandmother than a blood-thirsty killer. Dried mascara stained her pale cheeks. Dirt covered in her skin in a thin layer like she hadn't been in the shower for a couple of weeks. But her eyes still held that innocent gaze.

"You have five minutes." Eileen said before shutting the door behind her.

The two turned towards Jacqueline who just stared at them with shiny eyes. "Are you here to help me or accuse me?"

"If you answer these few questions that we have then we will most likely be able to help you." Courtney said taking a folder out of her briefcase. "Okay, so why were you standing over Caroline with bloody hands on the afternoon on January 13?"

"When I saw her lying on the floor, I thought she was just kidding around. Maybe trying to scare an old woman like me. So I was going to play along and I moved her around a little bit. I was a little worried when I didn't see her respond. I was more worried when I saw blood on my hands." Jacqueline explained.

"Why didn't you just call the police?" Duncan asked.

"I was scared at first. But then I saw her father round the corner and he saw me in that position. He called the cops first. I tried to explain but he just kept yelling at me. Telling me how I was going to jail for life for killing his daughter." She looked off in the distance while she spoke.

"Where were you before Caroline died?"

"I just left Caroline to plant for alone while I went to the gardening store to get some fertilizer. It was one of the dumbest moves I ever made." Jacqueline wiped away a tear.

"What kind of relationship did you have with Caroline?" Courtney asked.

"She used to have a lot of problems at home. Her mom died when she was ten and she's been having a lot of problems with her dad since then. She started spending time with me when she needed to get away or when her dad was off to work. She came over to my house a lot to help me garden. It became a regular thing." She looked over at Courtney. "Please believe me when I say that I didn't do it."

Courtney gave a small smile. "I believe you but by just saying that is not going to save you. The court room wants proof."

"Well," Jacqueline took a sharp intake of breath. "Hopefully they'll get what they want."

"Time's up!" Eileen came in the room.

Duncan and Courtney left the prison and sat in the car for a while, each one thinking everything through. Courtney didn't know what to say. She couldn't understand how someone would think that a frail old lady would do something like that. She believed her but yet at the same time, she didn't know how she could win something like this in the court room. It still left a big burden atop Courtney's shoulders.

"I didn't want to tell you since you were so stressed out about the whole case thing but I got the court date this morning. It's Thursday of next week." Duncan said sheepishly.

"It doesn't matter if it's next week or next month. I still won't be ready. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of millions of people and there's nothing I can do about it." Courtney placed her face in her hands in pure exasperation.

"Why don't we go eat some lunch?" Duncan said calmly and started up the car.

"Where at?" Courtney asked.

"My house. Sound good?"

* * *

Duncan unlocked the door to his mansion and quietly stepped inside. Oddly, Duncan's house seemed messy. REALLY messy.

"What's with your house?" Courtney asked.

"I don't know." Duncan stared down at the many pillows, which once lay neatly on his leather couch, were sprawled out over the wood floor. Courtney was going take it as a robbery until she noticed the short skirt that was lying on the stairs.

"Look at this." She held up the skirt in the air and Duncan glared at it for a moment. Before either of them could make a move, noise came from the floor above. The both of them looked at the top of the staircase where Heather stood wrapped in a towel with her mouth wide open.

"Duncan, you're early." She looked over at Courtney. "And you brought the trash home with you."

"Heather what are you doing here? Better yet, how did you get in the house?" Duncan asked.

Heather stood their silent for a moment until a shirtless Justin came was at the top of the stairs with the same expression as Heather. Heather looked at Duncan for a moment. "Duncan I love you. You know I love you. And this may look like one thing but it's not. Just . . . uh . . . I love you and only you Duncan."

Duncan looked off for a second and nodded his head as if asking himself a question. He looked back at Heather with a smile. "Let me show you and Justin to the door."

* * *

**Was this any better? Or was it totally boring? Review me, flame me, whatever. I really don't care just please let me know what you think so I can make it better. So if you want to say that this chapter was crap or was great just please review it! **

**PEACE (-)**


	7. The Day of her Nightmares

**HEYYYYYYYYY! I'm alive and I just got back from an awesome vacation in . . . CANADA! It was awesome, except for the fact that I lost a lot of my service most of the time. But honestly, what are with those prices? Down where I'm at, a double cheeseburger costs a dollar. Up there it cost like two dollars! (I know it's not a big difference but it all adds up especially when you want fries and a drink and it costs as much as a large pepperoni pizza). When we stayed by Niagara Falls for a little while I got to ride an awesome 4D ride. (I mainly wanted to ride the SpongeBob one but I didn't get to.) So yeah, then I got to visit New York City for the first time eva! I fell in love with it! So now I'm back home in my crappy southern state where I'm dying everyday because of how much I hate it here.**

**Thanks for reviewing the last chapter.**

**ANYWAYS! We're just going to move on with this story . . . **

_This was it._

This was the day that Courtney had been dreading. This was the day that would make or break her future career as a lawyer. This was the day she had to go to court. Courtney had spent a lot of time focusing in on the information she got from Jacqueline. It was important that she could express Jacqueline's statements in a way that would make her seem 'not guilty' but doing so would be extremely hard, mainly because Courtney had convinced herself that Jacqueline was guilty. Everything pointed to Jacqueline and Courtney had no idea how she was going to change the court's mind. So by this day, Courtney had come to a conclusion.

She wasn't ready.

But it wasn't just the fact that she didn't think she could handle the case that affected her. It was also her environment outside of work that was taking a toll. The main thing that started all the drama in her life was what was stated when Duncan kicked Heather and Justin out of the house.

_Flashback . . . _

_The air was cold as the words escaped Duncan's mouth. Courtney stared at Duncan's stern but calm expression as he signaled Heather to leave one more time. Heather's eyes drifted over to Courtney, who was a little overwhelmed by the whole situation, and then snapped back to Duncan's in an evil glare. "THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF HER ISN'T IT?" She pointed towards Courtney. "THIS IS HER FAULT! HOW DARE YOU CRITIZE ME BECAUSE I'M WITH JUSTIN WHEN YOU'VE BEEN MESSING AROUND WITH THAT TRASH THE ENTIRE TIME! I HAD A RIGHT TO CHEAT ON YOU, DUNCAN! I DON'T NEED YOU!"_

"_Then leave," Duncan said nonchalantly. "Because you're really wasting my lunch time right now."_

"_BUT YOU NEED ME DUNCAN! AND WHEN I LEAVE, YOU'LL REALIZE HOW MUCH YOU NEED ME! YOU DON'T WANT ME TO LEAVE!" Heather continued her rant with a few tears rolling down her face. Courtney really wanted to put in her two cents at that point but decided to leave it alone, knowing she'd only make the situation worse._

"_Leave." Duncan said again._

_Heather paused for a moment almost as if she was letting reality set in. She then ran down the stairs and grabbed at Duncan's shirt, pushing Courtney out of the way. "Oh Duncan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. It was Justin's idea. Just please Duncan; I won't have anywhere else to go. Where am I going to live? Where?" Heather began sobbing into Duncan's dress shirt._

"_You and Justin seemed pretty comfy when I wasn't home. Bunk with him." He said._

"_No! He doesn't want me! He's not going to take me in. I need you!" Heather sobbed. Courtney frowned at Heather's sudden change of emotion._

_Duncan looked as if he was going to change his mind until he rolled his eyes up at the air. "Number one, this isn't a homeless shelter. The only reason I let you stay here was because you were my girlfriend. Now that you're not, Casa Del Duncan is closed. Number two; this is a $2000 dress shirt. I'd really appreciate it if you'd not get your snot all over the collar."_

_Courtney raised her eyebrows at Duncan's response and watched as Heather slowly got off of Duncan and turned her gaze to her. "You're going to regret this."_

_End Flashback_

Courtney didn't realize how much she would regret being with Duncan that day. It was the reason why she lost her car and every expensive thing in her house was stolen. She had to borrow Geoff's car for the day and Duncan got her a new suit. At least she knew she had another case to handle after this one . . . if she still had her job.

But what also made it worse were the threat letters she got from Heather. They never stated that Heather would kill her. Instead, it said that she'd wish she was dead. Some even said that soon Courtney could only get a job as a waitress at Hooters (**A/N: Just in case you don't know, Hooters is a disgusting restaurant were girls dress disgustingly to impress the male customers. At least that's how it is down in my state**). She didn't understand what she meant and that's what made Courtney even more afraid.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Bridgette calling her. "Hey Bridgette." She greeted.

"Hey Court. Ready for the big day?"

Courtney sighed. "No, but the fact that you and Geoff will be there might make it a little bit easier."

"Oh, Courtney I'm sorry." The words made Courtney worry. "Geoff got sick the other day, so we're just going to watch it on TV."

Courtney's brows furrowed. _Television? _"Bridgette, this isn't Judge Judy. Why would you think it was going to be on TV?"

"You're case is one of the top cases there is out there. Of course it's going to be on TV. I hear there're even going to show it in the United States." Bridgette gushed while Courtney's heart dropped to her feet. She now realized that not only would she lose her job, but she would be humiliated in two countries. Joy!

She quickly ended her conversation with Bridgette by saying that she would come take a cab to pick up Geoff's car. She was being half truthful. She was going to take a cab but not to Bridgette's house.

While waiting for the cab to come, she thought of all the places she could run away to. A place that she could hide. She could move to Paris. She was fluent in French. Or she could move to Australia. She had always wanted to go there. But the more she thought about it, the guiltier she felt. She couldn't leave Duncan standing alone in the courtroom without having a clue what was going on. She may have saved herself but she would ruin the high standings of Anderson & Evans Law Firm.

When she heard the cab honk outside, she grabbed The Henderson Case information and jumped in the cab. She was at least going to let Duncan know that she wasn't going to go through with the case.

* * *

She knocked at the door of Duncan's mansion before he opened it. He stood there at the door in a white tee shirt and jeans. Yet again she found her eyes averting to Duncan's tanned muscular body. In the past when she dated him, she never remembered him being so . . . toned. To avoid being caught ogling him, she met his eyes.

"Come here to cop out?" He asked leaning against the door frame, his shirt becoming tighter around his obvious abs.

Courtney frowned. "How'd you know?"

"Cause the third and fourth person I asked to do this case did the same thing." She immediately felt guilty again. He motioned for her to come inside.

She walked in and followed him to the couch where they both sat side by side. Courtney immediately started talking. "Duncan I'm sorry but this is all too much. I didn't know this would be on television. I had no idea how important this case was. I just can't do this."

Duncan smiled. "What happened to Courtney Monroe? The chick who could handle anything?"

"Well, I guess I can't handle _anything_." Courtney said grimly.

"I know you probably think that the only reason I let you have the job was because I thought you were hot and I got to control everything you did. And while there _is_ some truth to that, I also hired you because I knew you _could_ handle it." Duncan chuckled to himself. "I never thought I'd be the one who had to encourage you to do something."

Courtney stared at him. "Duncan you don't understand. You don't understand how hard it is to do something practically impossible when you're under a pressure for time."

"I don't?" Duncan questioned, a little irritated with her words. "Last time I checked, I think I might understand a little more than you think."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "When?"

"Do you think owning your own freaking law firm is easy? Do you think having to clean yourself up in a few years time is easy? You have no idea how hard it was for me to have to change. When I was in high school, the only place I was heading to was jail. Then all of a sudden the only relative I have that isn't part of the police work is dying. To top it off, he needs someone to own his law firm. The best law firm. So now I had to go to college. HARVARD! And I had to finish quick enough to graduate and own the law firm before my uncle died. I know how hard it is Courtney. What I'm saying to you, though, is that if I could handle being a high school dropout to Harvard Valedictorian and CEO, then you can handle a television court case." He said.

Courtney took a deep breath, amazed at the decision she was going to make. "If I go through with this, you'll be there with me?"

Duncan looked at Courtney and laughed inwardly at the vulnerability in her eyes. "Yep, and when you fail, I'll be there to fire you too."

They both laughed a little bit and Courtney smiled at how sincere Duncan was being. While she did like the dumb, annoying, bad-boy Duncan, the smart, annoying, and more muscular Duncan wasn't half bad either.

"Duncan, what do you do when you're nervous?" Courtney asked hoping to find some more encouragement from his words.

He shrugged. "Kiss a hot girl."

"Idiot." Courtney said.

* * *

The courtroom was loud as multiple people herded along with the camera crew. Bridgette was right, this was a big case. She slumped down in her seat taking a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself. She grabbed the black folder that was in front of her with her notes. She read over the short paragraph over and over thinking of a way that she could fail without looking completely stupid. Once she had practically memorized the note, she turned around in her seat and looked at all the people that were seated behind her. She then looked over towards plaintiff, Caroline's father, who was seated next to his lawyer with a stern look on his face. Then she saw Jacqueline come in through the doors carried by two policemen next to Courtney. She could have cried. She didn't know what to do in this position. But she was too far along to go back once she saw the Judge walk in.

"All rise for the honorable Judge Phyllis." The bailiff said.

Once everyone was sat down the bailiff came over to Jacqueline with the Holy Bible in his hand. "Do you solemnly swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God."

"I do." Jacqueline said. The bailiff walked over to Caroline's father, Jeremy, and repeated the same thing.

"So, this case involves the murder of the fifteen year old daughter, Caroline Henderson. Jack you may state your case." The judge pointed towards the other lawyer.

"Thank you, your honor. I would like to call Jeremy Henderson to the stand." Jeremy moved over to the chair by the Judge. "Jeremy, please tell us what happened on July 12."

"Well I left Caroline over at Jacqueline's house for a while so that she could help her with planting while I went to the store. When I came back home an hour later, I found Caroline dead and Jacqueline standing near her." Jeremy explained.

"Were there any weapons that were used?"

"There was a bloody shovel that looked like it was use to stab Caroline multiple times." Jeremy said.

"Why do you believe that Jacqueline killed her?"

"Because she was over my daughter with bloody hands. That's when I rushed to call the police."

"Thank you, Jeremy." The judge said and both lawyers returned to their seats. The judge then turned to Courtney. "State your case."

Courtney took a deep breath and stood up. "I'd like to call Jacqueline Rhodes to the stand." Jacqueline then moved to the chair by the judge. "Jacqueline could you please explain your side of the story."

"On that day, Caroline and I were planting and we ran out of potting soil, so I decided to go to the store to buy some more. When I came back home, I found Caroline on the ground in the garden. I thought she was just playing a trick on me so I nudged her a little bit and told her to get up. When she didn't respond, I nudged her a little bit more and that's when I saw the blood on my hands. I turned her over and noticed she was stabbed multiple times. Then I saw the shovel thrown behind her and saw the blood that was on the end. At that time, Jeremy came over and saw me in that position which is when he called the police." Jacqueline explained.

"So uh, you went to the store to get potting soil and you came back and saw Caroline dead?"

"Yes."

Courtney looked around nervously trying to think of another question but she had no idea what to say. The story itself seemed kind of flimsy compared to Jeremy's and she could already tell that the Jury was in favor of Jeremy anyways.

"No more questions, your honor."

The court case went on and the more Jeremy talked the more convinced Courtney was that Jacqueline was in the wrong. She was at a loss. So when it was her turn again to speak she did the only thing she could.

"You're honor; Jacqueline did not do this crime."

The whole courtroom gasped at the sudden outburst. The judge eyed Courtney skeptically. "And why do you say that?"

"Just look at her. She's a frail old lady! What more can she do? She can barely pick up a shovel much less kill a fifteen year old!"

"And do you have any proof, Ms. Monroe?"

Courtney bit her bottom lip and shook her head. The Judge gave a grim smile. "Then I suggest that you sit down and not make another outburst like that again. In fact, I think we should take a recess."

A few members of the audience snickered at the scenario before shuffling out the room. Courtney felt so embarrassed and confused. She didn't know how to fight for this woman and now she made herself seem like a fool to the Judge. She knew this case was practically closed.

Suddenly she felt Duncan come sit next to her. She looked into his eyes and felt a few tears fall down her face. They just seemed to stare at each other as if holding a silent conversation. But before Courtney could respond, Duncan crashed his lips onto hers. The kiss was soft yet passionate and ended way too soon in Courtney's mind. Once they broke apart, she looked at Duncan with wide eyes. "What was that for?"

"I'm nervous." Duncan smiled making Courtney laugh a little bit. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know." Courtney groaned. "I know we're probably going to lose this case and I'm going to have to find a job as a fast food operator."

"Well, whatever happens, happens. But at least you gave it your best shot."

Tears brimmed Courtney's eyes. "I wish I could have done better."

* * *

After a few more minutes of recess everyone stormed back into the courtroom, some still whispering about Courtney. She leaned back in her chair as Jacqueline leaned over into her ear. "I thank you for trying."

Courtney responded back with a smile and turned her attention to the Judge. "Ms. Monroe, I will give you one more chance here before we close this case to defend your client and I expect no more outbursts."

Courtney nodded and stood up once again. "I want to call Jeremy Henderson to the stand."

Once Jeremy was seated Courtney looked him in the eye. For some reason, Courtney didn't trust this man. He seemed so bulky compared to Jacqueline and more capable to kill somebody. As much of a ludicrous thought that it was, Courtney decided to take a shot at Jeremy. "Mr. Henderson, please explain in much detail what happened the day."

Jeremy rolled his eyes at her. "Do we have to go through this again?"

"He's right, the court has already heard his explanation." The judge stated.

"He stated what we already knew. What I am asking for is a more detailed explanation." She said turning her attention back to Jeremy.

Jeremy growled his face turning red with anger. "YOU WANT DETAILS! HOW ABOUT THE FACT OF NOT KNOWING YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR DAUGTER TO SOMEONE YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD TRUST! HOW ABOUT HEARING YOUR DAUGHTERS BLOOD-CURDLING SCREAMS? HOW ABOUT WATCHING YOUR DAUGHTER TWIST AND TURN TRYING TO AVOID EACH HIT! HOW ABOUT SEEING YOUR DEAD DAUGHTER ON THE GROUND! THERE ARE YOUR DETAILS!"

Courtney was shocked for a moment until something hit her. She had just solved the case. "You said that you had gone to the store and when you came back you saw Caroline dead. If you were gone to the store, you wouldn't have been able to hear the screams of your daughter."

"Uh. . . uh."

"And looking at how weak Jacqueline could is, she couldn't have possibly stabbed her enough times before you would be over at her house, since you heard the screams. Plus, how would you know that your daughter tried to avoid the stabs unless you were there. And if you were there, why would you watch your daughter roll around in pain unless you were the one causing it."

There were many gasps going through room, even the judge seemed a little surprised. "Well," Judge Phyllis said. "It seems that this case is closed. Jury, your judgment?"

The Jury didn't even go to a separate room to discuss the case. The seemed to quickly agree on one answer. "We consider Jacqueline G. Rhodes not guilty of murder in the first degree."

"I sentence Jeremy C. Henderson to life imprisonment. This case is now closed." Judge Phyllis said after getting up. (**A/N: Life imprisonment in Canada is only 25 years**)

Courtney stood up and gave a small hug to Jacqueline who had tears rolling down her face. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Courtney's eyes averted to Duncan who was walking towards her with a grin on his face. He pulled her into a big hug which said surprisingly accepted. "Man, I owe you a big paycheck."

Courtney walked outside with Duncan's arm around her waist. They both were laughing and talking all the way towards the Hummer Courtney borrowed from Geoff. They're laughter stopped when the saw a note on the front windshield.

_Remember Courtney,_

_You can't have your cake and eat it too._

Just at that moment she saw swarms of paparazzi rushing towards her. They were all snapping pictures and shouting her name.

"Courtney! Courtney! Is it true you're in an intimate relationship with your boss?"

"How long have you two been dating?"

"Does your job affect your love life?"

"Do you have that relationship with all your workers?"

"Does the fact that you're look down on because of dating your boss have any affect on the relationship?"  
_Relationship? Dating? LOVE LIFE? _"What are you talking about? Me and Duncan aren't dating. He's simply my boss!" Courtney said.

One of the paparazzi people shoved a newspaper article in her face. "How do you explain this?"

On the cover of the article it showed a large picture of Duncan and Courtney looking like they were kissing in the fancy restaurant they were at a while ago. There was a smaller picture that showed Courtney looking dreamily into Duncan's eyes. There was another of Courtney in Duncan's car. And another of Courtney entering Duncan's house. The headline read: How Courtney Gets Ahead in her Career.

Courtney stared at Duncan for a moment with wide eyes before she through down the newspaper and stormed away from the paparazzi. Duncan followed.

"I knew I couldn't trust you Duncan!" Courtney shouted.

Duncan looked innocent. "Me?"

"Who else would have these pictures? We didn't see anyone else around during this time! I knew you were setting me up for something just like you said to Geoff on the phone a long time ago."

"You heard that?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah! Bridgette told me."

"Courtney that was something completely different." (**A/N:** **It was in the last chapter if you don't remember**)

"Save it Duncan! I quit!"

(Add line)

**UH OH! More tension is brewing. The next chapter is going to be the last. Sorry I had to end it so quick. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**Express ur inner nrd!**


	8. History Repeats Itself

**READ THIS!**

**After the extremely long wait... (3 months) we are finally answering the question that has been on your mind since the last chapter. Was it Heather or Gwen? And what did Justin have to do with it?**

**Now, since you waited so nicely! We give you the final chapter of JOMN! (That means The Job of My Nightmares, btw.)**

**We thank all you awesome reviewers for loving this story.**

**OH AND BY THE WAY... You might not hear from us after the epilogue for a while since we also have another fanfiction account. MADAM XAVIERA! And we have been working on the remake of GAMBLING LOVE which has just been posted last week or so. (That's our secret side account) CHECK THAT STORY OUT!**

* * *

Duncan's mouth dropped a little from her words. "Courtney, you've got to listen to me!"

"Save it!" You're going to listen to me. A few hours ago, you had me fooled. I thought you had actually changed into someone nice. But turns out you're the same jerk I wasted my time with in high school. You ruined my reputation and nothing is ever going to change that. Even though I have no idea what I'm going to do after this, anything will be better than having to see your face again." Courtney snared and felt tears well up in her eyes.

For the first time, in a long time, Courtney saw a deep hurt pass over his face. But it was soon masked with a glare of sudden hatred. "Heather was right, you are trash."

Courtney bit her lip and raised her hand to give him the slap they both knew he deserved. But a sob escaped her all too quickly and she lowered her hand. "I HATE YOU!" She shouted with so much fury, it made Duncan cringe.

"At least we agree on something." He said, emotionless.

And with those few words, it was over. Courtney could no longer hold back the tears that had broke free, showing how deeply those words scarred her. And when Duncan stood his ground, all she could do was turn around and walk away.

* * *

1 year later…

"So why are you going to New York again?" Geoff asked through the speaker of the phone.

Duncan was truly irritated at this point, since Geoff had asked this same question three times already and Duncan had answered it three times. "I told you, Geoff. I'm going to check out the competition. Monroe & McKinley Law Firm is the top law firm in America. If I work my words right, I might be able to merge the two companies together."

"Wait… did you say Monroe & McKinley Law Firm?" Geoff asked. "And you're going there?"

Duncan rolled his eyes, about to comment sarcastically on his friend's short-term memory. "Yes, Geoff."

"Don't you know who-" Geoff was cut off. Duncan looked down at his phone and saw that he had lost all service. Since it wasn't worth using, he threw it in passenger's seat before turning on the radio.

Once he entered the city, he knew this was his type of scene. People crammed into one tiny area filled with sky-scraping buildings and large television screens. Tourists taking pictures and riding tourist buses. He would've been doing the same; unfortunately his mind was set on something else.

Staring at his GPS, he turned onto Wall Street, immediately spotting the Law Firm from a mile away. There it sat, probably seventy stories high, with multiple amounts of people in suits walking inside. Shockingly, Duncan felt a little overwhelmed by it all. This company made Anderson & Evans seem like a Taco Bell.

As soon as he found a safe parking spot, sudden realization hit him. He didn't make an appointment. You can't just walk into a big business like this without an appointment. Duncan, being as slick as always, looked down at his outfit, realizing he fit right in with the rest of the crowd speeding into the building. If he could just ease his way through, along with the rest of the people, he might be able to get inside.

His plan seemed to work out, even though his mouth dropped when he got inside. The floors were made of complete marble and bright chandelier hung from the ceiling. A little elegant for a place of business, yes, but it reeked of class.

"Sir!" A woman called from the receptionist desk. CRAP! His plan was ruined. He reluctantly walked over to the smiling woman. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for a job here, would you?"

He was about to say 'no' before another light bulb flashed in his head. Apparently there were a lot of people applying today. "Yes, actually."

"Great!" She smiled. "Go to the 67th floor and the CEO will be ready for you."

Duncan nodded a 'thank you' before heading toward the elevator, slipping through before the doors closed. Next to him stood an older man, a little chunky in size, smiling at him. Duncan smiled back and pushed the floor number 67.

"Oh, I see you're looking for a job."

"Yep." He replied, politely.

"Do you have any law experience?" The man asked. Duncan almost questioned why he was asking him this but ignored it.

"Yeah, I spent some time at Anderson & Evans Law Firm in Canada."

"You don't say." The man grinned. "Well, I think you won't have any problem getting the job."

Duncan frowned. "Who are you?" He asked as soon as the elevator doors opened.

"Jack McKinley."

His eyes widened. "So you must be the CEO?"

The man stepped out of the elevator. "I used to be. But my new partner is now. Christina will show you where the office is."

Duncan looked over at Christina who look attentive and way better than his receptionist. "The CEO will take you right now. Just enter through that door over there." She pointed.

Duncan walked into the room, star-struck at how much better it was than his own. Yet again, the floors were pure black marble. A fireplace had started across the room and a chandler hung idly in the middle of the room. Not to mention the long mahogany desk that sat towards the back. He noticed the chair was turned around, so Duncan cleared his voice.

The chair whipped around to reveal a certain female. "Courtney!" Duncan practically shrieked.

Courtney stared, eyes wide, for a moment before she started glaring. "Get out of my office."

"Wait a second-"

"Don't even think about applying for a job here." She snapped. "Just get out of my office before I call security."

"Gosh, Courtney, you're already going off on me before you even know why I'm here."

"And frankly, I don't care. I think I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to see you again, so I don't need you stalking me."

Duncan clicked his tongue. "Look," He said, colder than necessary. "I didn't stalk you here. I didn't even know you worked here. I just came here with a business proposition and now that I know who you are, I'll take my business elsewhere."

"Good," She said while Duncan headed towards the door. "Because I have to be able to trust the people I work with. Obviously, after what you did, I can't trust you."

"Excuse me?" He asked, spinning on one heel back to her.

"You heard me." She retorted.

He shook his head in an attempt to suppress his anger. "You still, after all this time, think I exploited you like that."

Courtney nodded her head in a smug fashion. She pointed to the picture on the wall. "I kept the newspaper and got it framed to remind me to watch who I trust."

Duncan angrily walked over to the picture, snatching it off the wall, and slamming it onto her desk. "You know, Courtney, I expected you to be smarter than this. Especially solving one of the hardest cases."

"What are you talking about?"

"COURTNEY! LOOK AT THE FREAKING PICTURE!" He pointed to the one where Duncan and Courtney looked like they were kissing.

"So?" She asked, still confused.

"God, Courtney, come on! We were in that fancy restaurant. Remember?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, were that trashy girl was hitting on you."

"Right. But who came into to take a picture of us in that position."

"Gwen." Courtney stated before realization hit her. "But Gwen was using those pictures for a project."

He just stared at her like she was stupid.

"Don't look at me like that." She snapped. "Duncan, I trust Gwen. And she would never do anything like that. You're lying."

"Fine," He said as he pulled out his cell-phone. "Here's a voicemail I got from Heather a few months ago."

"_Hey, Duncan. I know you might still be mad at me but I want you to know I'm on your side. Which is why I'm willing to tell you this. Gwen loves you. She really loves you. And she hates Courtney more than I do. So, she got me and Justin involved in this plan to break you and Courtney up. She pretended that she was on a date with Justin just so she could get a couple pictures. Then she sold them. I know I was wrong for getting involved in deceiving you and I'm sorry. It's just that I really wanted you and I thought this could be a way to strengthen our relationship. I was going to kick Gwen to the curb after I got you where I wanted you. But, right now, I really need you Duncan. Please let this go and maybe we could get back to where we started. Courtney doesn't deserve you, Duncan. I hope you realize that."_

As the message ended, Courtney felt completely stupid and embarrassed. All this time she had harbored all this anger towards Duncan when it was Gwen who was the deceiver.

"Duncan I-"

"Eh, don't worry about it, Court." Even though his words sounded sweet, they were as cold as ice. "You have a nice life."

And with that he headed towards the door again.

"DUNCAN! WAIT!" Courtney called, when he didn't stop, she continued. "I'm sorry."

Those words probably stopped the entire earth in its tracks. Courtney, saying she was sorry? For as long as Duncan knew her, she never said she was sorry.

He turned around once again. She repeated her words. "I'm sorry."

For a moment, Duncan thought about just ignoring her apology and walking out the door, leaving her and her drama forever. But still, the hidden softer side of Duncan forced him to stay. He walked back over to her desk.

"Thank you." He genuinely smiled. "So are we cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool." She smiled back.

With those words, Duncan grabbed both sides of her face, pulling her into a rough yet passionate kiss. It was short and sweet but she felt it all the way down to the tips of her fingers.

After the kiss, they touched foreheads, staring into one another's eyes. "I want you back." Duncan whispered.

Courtney created space between them and let a smirk pass onto her face. "You do?"

He nodded. She continued. "Well, you're going to have to do something for me."

"Anything." He replied.

She grinned and eagerly stood up from her chair, leading him to her filing cabinets. "I need you to reorganize my file cabinets."

He laughed, remembering the past for a moment, and opened the drawers. "Courtney, they're already organized."

She grabbed a handful of papers and threw them onto the ground. "Now, they're not."

* * *

**Okay, I'm not exactly pleased with this ending but after three months, this is the best we could do. Thanks! Hopefully, the epilogue will be out shortly!**

**REMEMBER CHECK OUT GAMBLING LOVE/ MADAM XAVIERA!**

**EXPRESS UR INNER NERD!**


	9. YOU BETTER READ THIS!

**_Important News!_**

**DUE TO CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, GAMBLING LOVE UNDER THE NAME OF MISS XAVIERA WILL BE SHUT DOWN, ALONG WITH THE NAME. NO WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BAD IT'S JUST I FOUND OUT A COUPLE OF THINGS AND DECIDED TO SHUT IT DOWN. SORRY. WITH THAT BEING STATED, BRILEXSE SHOULD NOW BE THE ONLY NAME WE WILL BE WRITING UNDER.**

**ALSO, I'VE TAKEN NOTICE OF HOW MUCH RESPONSE WE HAVE GOTTEN ON THE STORY FOUR LETTERS. I CAN'T MAKE ANY PROMISES BUT I WILL SAY, IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE UPDATED IN THE FUTURE. FRANKLY, WE WEREN'T EVEN GOING TO UPDATE IT. IT WAS ONLY TO PASS THE TIME, REALLY.**

**NEXT, THE EPILOGUE OF JOMN IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S BEEN PRETTY HARD TO WRITE IT LATELY. DON'T WORRY IT _MOST LIKELY _WILL NOT TAKE THREE MONTHS TO UPDATE. HOPEFULLY IT WON'T TAKE ONE MONTH TO UPDATE. **

**NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS. IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS OR SO, YOU WILL SEE A BRAND NEW STORY WRITTEN UNDER THE AUTHOR'S NAME BRILEXSE. IT'S GOING TO BE CALLED _CONSPIRACY THEORY_ AND IT'S BEEN TAKING UP MOST OF MY TIME. THAT'S PROBABLY WHY I HAVE A WRITERS BLOCK WHEN IT COMES TO JOMN. AND GUESS WHAT... IT'LL ACTUALLY BE LONG! HOPEFULLY IT'LL BE EASIER TO UPDATE, ESPECIALLY SINCE MY WRITING PARTNER OR THE 'LEXSE' PART OF 'BRILEXSE' IS EASIER TO CONSULT NOW. **

**SO THAT'S IT FOR THE IMPORTANT NEWS. THANKS FOR READING...**

**EXPRESS UR INNER NRD! 8)**


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